12 quet flooring providing a border for an oval carpet of dark blue. In the center of this stood the bed. It was a huge one, with no footboards, and was covered by a spread of old Italian em- broidery. The ceiling of the room was painted to represent sky and clouds, and the lighting of this was controlled by an elaborate electrical installation. A variety of effects could be obtained by pressing various buttons on a switch- board attached to the bed. It was Mr. Ringling's belief that certain color- effects induced certain moods. An- other interesting feature was the bed table. This article of furniture was in reality the terminus of a dumb- waiter shaft which ascended from the nether regions. Mr. Ringling had but to touch a button and his break- fast appeared upon his table. . I N THE same week in which two members of the near-literati were heard trying to remember who wrote "Rabelais," Mr Horace Liveright, the book publisher) received a letter asking for a copy of CCHamlet in Modern Clothes." It was wanted for produc- tion by a group of amateurs and the obvious reflection is that their standing is uninjured. . A NoN-PROFESSIONAL gentleman who had been baffled by the stage directions in a manuscript he had chanced upon recently asked an actor what '<the center of the stage" might be. ccThe center of the stage," de- clared the actor, who was cynical and old, (Cis where all good actors go when they die." Con/aroo U SU ALL Y when a new word is'. born into the world, there are no photographers or reporters lurking in the shadows of the hospital portals. In- deed on such occasions these breeders , of self-consciousness are almost in- variably fatal and a nice new word like <'scofflaw," for instance, dies in its pretty and expensive swaddling clothes. Less public are the verbal accouche- ments among the lawless. Lo, al- ready the bootleggers have three fine sturdy new words roaming this city. No one seems to know where they cam from. Their age, ancestry and place of birth are alike uncertain. The bootlegger is using a new vocabulary . to express the graduations of his stock. If his Scotch is genuinely true to its label's boast, then he will say to his intimates, "That there stuff's the Mc- Coy." If the label is spurious and the contents a trifle nouveaux, such stuff i ' known as the Gimmick. Most of us drink Gimmick. Finally there is the stuff which is both spurious without and lethal with- in, not only phony but foul. This, dear readers, is known as the Gon- f aroo. If, in the final hours of 1926, you have any lingering inclination to give 1927 a try, beware the Gon- f aroo. Quaint N OW THAT practically all Qf the Christmas n:ail has been dis- tributed, it is no violation of the Y ule- tide spirit to divulge the rather spright- ly nature of the Christmas card sent to all his friends by our prominent citizen, Mr. Frank Campbell, under- taker to Valentino and others. Its in- ner page contains a handsome photo- graph of the eminent mortician and the cover an outline of the head of the grayed Mr. Claus. The face of the old gentleman with the beard has been deftly deleted so that when the card is folded, that of Mr. Campbell peers through the aperture in such a way that he can hardly be taken for anyone but the reindeer king himself. Perroquet Y OUNG Mr. Roger Wolfe Kahn, who only a few years ago took up the saxophone in a serious way, is col- Z .Â i:: >;.....,: _::" ,- . "'- If,.. . . . . : . :,..- - k \; ," .C . ,.ri. laborating, it has been announced, with Ben Hecht on a new musical piece which is to be called "Hearts and Flowers." The title sounds a bit tremolo, but it is eXplained that the THE NEW YORKER work is a ((violent exposition travesty- ing the past twenty years of musical comedy." Mr. Kahn, in his spare mo- ments, has also dashed off several dithyrambs which are to be grafted into the score of a forthcoming Sam Bernard show. All this Broadway activity on the part of Mr. Kahn is quite thoroughly meditated. The orchestra leader and night-club proprietor, now rapidly nearing the mellow age of twenty, feels that it is time he pointed toward a life work. From now on he intends to devote his energies largely to the writing of production music. T HE PERROQUET DE PARIS in Fifty- seventh Street, young Kahn's pres- ent and most ambitious venture, never has gripped his deeper emotions any- way, it seems. With its mirrored floors and dazzling lighting effects, it is one of the things in town to see this season. In this sense it is an undoubted success, but at best it has been more or less of a toy-albeit an expensive one. The lighting system alone cost $25,000. .l\.pparently this item is worth that con- siderable sum. Roger Wolfe appears to derive his greatest amusement in operating it. He does this with a few deft moves upon a switchboard which is at his elbow as he leads his orchestra. Most of the effects he thus achieves are of his own devising. He has al- ways been interested in electrical engi- neering. Two years ago, in fact, when he was just a middle-aged man of seventeen, he prepared for the entrance examinations to the Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology. At this point the motif of the saxophone gained domination, however. The elder Mr. Kahn once opposed his son's musical career, thus giving it Erst-page publicity; but now he lends bis endorsement to it by taking parties to the Perroquet and paying the check with legal tender. And he hasn't been heard to object even to the $ 5 couvert. Art Lovers A CLEVELAND business men's organization met, some weeks ago, we are told, to pay tribute to the Czecho-Slovakian artist, T. F. Simon. Will James, cowboy artist and writer, was another guest, and Alexander Blazys, Dean of the Cleveland School of Art, was at the speakers' table. When the chairman rose to bring the meeting to a close, his features bright-